1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to object recognition apparatuses that integrate dictionary data through object recognition, and relates to recognition methods thereof for non-transitory computer-readable storage media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Facial recognition techniques are known as a representative example of an object recognition technique. A facial recognition technique searches for the location of a predetermined person within an image. A function in which a digital camera focuses on a predetermined person can be realized by incorporating such a facial recognition technique into the digital camera.
A facial recognition process provided in a digital camera is executed using a matching process that compares a feature amount of a pre-registered person with feature amounts of multiple subject people. Feature amounts of people are registered by capturing an image of a person that is to be registered using the digital camera and storing the captured image in a memory as dictionary data. Furthermore, in the case where there are multiple people to be recognized, it is necessary to obtain captured data for each of those people and store each piece of the captured data in the memory. The dictionary data that is stored may be image data, or may be feature amount data that cannot be visualized.
Recently, it is common for people to own their own digital cameras, and furthermore, it is thought that in the future, it will become common for people to own multiple digital cameras. As described earlier, the dictionary data of a digital camera is unique to that camera. It is thought that in the future, it will not only be necessary to reduce image capturing operations for obtaining dictionary data as much as possible, but it will also be necessary to provide a function for integrating and sharing dictionary data used in the facial recognition processes among multiple digital cameras (a best dictionary data sharing function).
However, there are several problems that must be solved in order to share dictionary data among cameras. One such problem exists between the dictionary data of the multiple digital cameras that is to be integrated, and the dictionary data that is unique to a certain imaging device. That is, in the case where dictionary images of the same person are present in multiple pieces of dictionary data, the case where identical category names have been given to different people, and so on, how to integrate and share the respective pieces of dictionary data is a problem.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-333365 discloses a technique for wirelessly transferring images captured by a master camera to slave cameras that belong to a group based on group setting information. Here, the group setting information is recorded in a memory card such as a Compact Flash® card. Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-250829 discloses a technique related to a pedestrian verification apparatus, where in the case where a person for which a verification result of “NG” has been obtained is present, a facial image of that person is presented along with multiple higher-ranked candidate images based on the verification result, whereupon a manager determines whether or not to add the facial image to a registry as a dictionary image. Accordingly, conventional techniques discuss the integration of captured images and the addition and presentation of dictionary images.
However, a method for creating integrated dictionary data when integrating dictionary data among multiple imaging devices has not yet been provided. Accordingly, it is necessary to solve a problem that occurs when integrating dictionary data among multiple imaging devices, or in other words, a problem in which there is conflict among category names, in techniques related to the integration of dictionary data for users who own multiple digital cameras that will become necessary in the future.